Your Competitor Isn’t Better Than You, They’re Just More Visible

How did you get your first client?

So I did what any new mom with a camera would do. I started a Facebook page. I became a teacher, did that for a year. Realized that was not my favorite thing. So I became an investigator for the state of Texas. Are people paying me because they feel sorry for me? You know, you just go through these phases of being an entrepreneur, but eventually you get your stride. There's a lot of businesses that do not have the best product and they're busy. Because they're visible. And then we have other small local businesses that have an amazing product, an amazing service, but they're not busy. It's because nobody knows they're existing.

If you post 2 videos every single day for 30 days, your clientele, your life will look very different.

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Group.com. Let's get to the episode. Welcome back to the radio.

Slow jams on a rainy day.

Smooth jazz on a rainy day. Have you ever been on the radio?

Um, so I actually have a commercial happening right now on one of the stations, but I haven't listened to it yet.

Is it you talking on it? How does it go?

Um, it's really just a little ad educating on what we do. Who is it? It's Townsquare Media. When I first took over this role, he was like, hey, I've known you for a long time. I don't even know what the Better Business Bureau does. And I was like, hey, I'm hearing that. And so he called me in his office, we talked, and he's like, okay, listen, let's do a trade. I was like, okay. And he's like, accredit Townsquare and I'm going to give you a whole year of advertising for free. I mean, our accreditation, $330. So We did. Yeah. And so I have just all these little bits. 30-second bits is really what they are. And it's just talking about how the Better Business helps consumers, and then there's another bit about how we help businesses, and then we bridge the gap between the two.

So, so, okay, so what's your last name now?

My last name is Cassidy.

Brittany Cassidy.

Yes.

I have Brittany Brown just like etched in my mind, so I'm gonna have to figure that one out.

And that's what I was thinking about, like, do I come on as Brittany Brown still and just— oh no, as like—

because nobody knows Cassidy now.

Nobody knows.

This is the announcement to the world.

Oh, this is—

okay, yeah, we're going.

Okay, right now, this is Brittany Cassidy, brought to you live.

Welcome to the podcast, Brittany Cassidy.

Thank you.

Um, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau. Of the big country.

Yes.

Uh, what does that cover? How many counties are y'all part of?

It's 13 counties. We start, um, Snyder and go all the way to Eastland, Coleman. We are going to Breckenridge, Brownwood, Colorado City, Sweetwater. We have a nice little section.

So how many businesses are accredited right now?

Um, right now we have about 712 accredited businesses.

Okay, what's y'all's goal?

So our goal is all of them.

No, just kidding.

Do you know— do you know— fun fact, we'll see it— do you know how many businesses there are?

So the last math when I first was brought on, it was 13,000.

I'm gonna—

I'm gonna kind of going up towards this to ChatGPT for fun.

Okay. How many businesses are located in the big country? The big country. Don't— don't bear— it's searching the web. Okay, it's counting 19 counties. Okay, so it's going to be a little bit more. 22,000 to 25,000 businesses. Okay, so it's probably right. Yeah. Dang, look at me go, Brittany Cassidy, doing the research beforehand. That's awesome. Okay, so That's, that's quite a bit.

It is a lot. Um, not every business gets to be accredited, so we're really not trying to accredit every business. What we're doing is we're looking for reputable businesses, businesses that operate with trust and integrity. They're advertising, uh, trustworthy. They're— I don't know what else.

Yeah, there's great businesses.

Yes.

So So let's get into your story just a little bit. For those of our listeners who have never met you before or have heard about what you've done in the past, kind of go through like, what was your career like before the Better Business Bureau and how did you end up in this position?

Okay. I mean, it, that's a good, it's a good story. So I grew up here. I was raised here. My dad has had a business here for many years. Even when I was a child, my dad was the body shop and manager for the, um, the body shop in Baird at Hanner. And so he has always had that, that business mindset. And so as a kid, he would, you know, talk through all the things and we'd sit at the dinner table and he would tell us, you know, all the things. And then along the line, he got the call to preach, and so he left his good-paying job, uh, and stepped out in faith to become a preacher. And so that opened up the door for him to work at home on the side in his own little shop. And so then he started his entrepreneur— excuse me, entrepreneur stuff. And with that, being a kid, he pulled us in a lot, and we learned how to run a business. And so I always wanted to own a business, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So when I went to college, I went to school for teaching. That's— I graduated from Hardin-Simmons. I became a teacher.

Go Cowboys!

Yes. Um, I became a teacher, did that for a year, maybe two, and quickly realized that was not my favorite thing. I love children, but, um, there's a lot. And honestly, I'm such a I like to move up in the, in the world and I like to do things and I'm a go-getter. And being a teacher was very slow for me. And so that it just wasn't something I loved.

Yeah.

So I became an investigator for the state of Texas.

That, yeah, that's a switch up.

That was a change. Did that. And then I got married. We had a baby and she was sick, so we were going to Cook's a lot. Um, and he was working out of town significantly. He was a directional driller. And so he was like, just quit your job, you can come see me, it'll work out. So that's what I did. I left, uh, that job and I was home for about 30 days and decided that I needed to start some business because being at home.

Yeah.

And not having any— I love people, and so not having any interaction was hard for me. So I started my photography business, and I had a friend, Kayla Couch. She was doing photos, and I would go over to her house, we would hang out, we would take pictures. She was showing me things, I was learning things. I signed up for classes, um, I went ahead and started, just jumped in it, started my business. God blessed me with clients, and within 2 months I was able to start a studio.

Wow.

And here we are 11 years later, and I still have a studio.

Wow.

So it was a blessing.

Where's it at?

Uh, it's on South 14th.

Okay.

Um, it's in the People Plaza.

Yeah.

So I really enjoy it over there.

I need to go over there sometime.

I like it.

So you just decided, pick pictures, taking pictures, photography is just going to be the thing. You enjoyed it?

Yes.

How did you get your first clients?

So I did what any new mom with a camera would do. I started a Facebook page. So I did, I started a Facebook page.

You'd be surprised, that's better than about 80% of other really people who want to start a business.

Well, that's what made the most sense to me. Um, Obviously, you know, I'm like, well, people need to know I'm doing this, and I want to brand it. So I just talked to my friends. I'm like, hey, I am now doing pictures. Let me take pictures of your kids. And that's what I would do. I would do them for really cheap, and I would just post and post and post and post. And then of course, when you're first starting, you, you grow and you get better, and you know, you go through the phases of imposter syndrome because Well, I didn't go to college for this. Am I actually good at this? Are, you know, are people paying me because they feel sorry for me? You know, you just go through these phases of being an entrepreneur and owning a business. And sometimes some of the phases last a little longer than others, but eventually you get your stride.

Yeah.

Eventually you get your consistency in the market and things start to grow.

Yeah.

And so they were, they were growing, things were going really great. Um, in 2022, life-altering things occurred, uh, even with our economy. I'm a luxury business, so it's one of those things that slows down. After COVID, the wedding industry turned. Um, we, instead of having large weddings, people were going to elopements, justice of the peace, which there's nothing wrong with that. It's just my, uh, bread and butter was big weddings.

And so is that the main thing that you did?

It was weddings, boudoir, families.

And do you still do weddings? Mhm. Okay. I do.

Um, since I am— since I took over the Better Business Bureau, really I'm only working on weekends. And so weddings is at the top of the list for that. Uh, I really scaled back what I was doing because I don't need to do everything anymore.

Um, but yeah, so going from full-time photographer to now kind of part-time photographer and full-time president CEO of the Better Business Bureau, how has that transition been?

Um, it's not been a difficult transition really. Um, I have a group of photographers that I refer to, so when there are jobs that I'm not able to take on or I don't want to take on, I'm referring them to the people that I trust, yeah, uh, that I know will take care of these people. And then just really being selective because I'm also a mom, yeah. And so I don't want to work 24/7. I still want to have intentional time with my family. Um, I just got married, we have 6 children combined.

Yeah, wow.

So there's a lot of, you know, family time that that we do, we try to have dinner together, we try to, you know, make sure that we spend a good amount of time together.

Yeah. And I think if that's what you see as success in life is like prioritizing family, then there's 100% a way to do that in today's culture because a lot of people don't. They say the opposite. It's like you have to sacrifice everything, your health, your relationships, everything to make the bread.

Yes. And you know, that was another thing being a business owner, a couple of things. It's one of the loneliest avenues you can take.

Yes.

Not a lot of people can be a business owner. You cannot be lazy. You need to be in the hustle mindset if you're going to be successful. Yes. And being a business owner and having a family and having all these different avenues, finding an appropriate work-life balance can get difficult, especially if you don't have somebody that you can talk to about it or be like, hey, I'm struggling in this area. So that was something that I really had to learn. Um, I had a baby and I was building a business, and then I had another baby and I'm still doing my business. And now I have 2 kids and one's nursing exclusively. And, you know, it was just learning how to juggle life at home and life at work and how to make it to where I'm not falling short in both. And then I'm not really good at one and really terrible at the other. Yeah. It was a definite trial and error.

Yeah. No, I totally get it. And I think that's one thing that's cool about the creative industries, you can, you can have some flexibility on that and be able to do those things. Like having this job, it sometimes feels like I'm cheating because I'm like, right, if I need to leave for a week, I can just walk ahead. I can block the calendar, make sure I'm caught up or ahead for the next week and just go. Yeah. And so I feel like that out of everything is the biggest perk. Like if we want to go So the DFW area, visit family for 3 or 4 days, I can, which is like heaven. Even if I don't make very much money with this business, but it allows me to do that. That's everything.

Winning. And I, I definitely feel that because owning my own business gave me freedom. Now I will say owning your own business, like you're going to work harder and longer for yourself than you have anybody else ever. And that goes with being a realtor. That goes with being a photographer. That goes with anything that you're doing where you're the brand, you're the face. You're going to work harder and longer. However, you do have flexibility in creating things, and that was something that was terrifying for me transitioning into the corporate world again. I hadn't been in the corporate world for 11, 12 years.

Yeah.

So transitioning to now I have a lunch hour, I don't want to just take an hour. Like, what do you mean I have to be back in an hour?

45 minutes?

Do you realize how long it takes me to get to my lunch destination. Can we take that out of there? You know, like, so an hour and 45 minutes, you know, if we include travel time.

Yeah, commute.

Yes. And so that was a big transition for me because I am such a creative that I don't wanna be confined. Yeah. You know, what do you mean I have to clock in at 8:30?

Yeah.

You know, that was my biggest concern when I first stepped back into the corporate world. And when I first stepped back in, I didn't step back in as CEO. I stepped back in as a business relations representative. And so I had a boss and always told everybody, like, I am not a good employee, you know, because I don't want to take an hour lunch break. I want to come in when I want to come in.

Well, you, you were used to the old lifestyle. Newer lifestyle. Yeah.

Yes. So that was a big mind shift for me as well because I want to I want to succeed in anything that I do, and I want to do it well. And so coming in and having to be very self-disciplined at making sure I'm back at the right time, yeah, that took extra self-discipline for me because I'm such a, you know, a feral being that, you know, spirited. Yes. Yeah, free-spirited and feral, same thing for me. But that was a big shift. And then once I became CEO, you know, that's even more of a being self-disciplined and where I am and making sure I'm available. I have a board, I have an executive committee, and making sure I'm available to them and available to the staff, available to our accredited businesses, and just learning how to shuffle and juggle all the things and wear all the hats.

Yeah, and I feel like you have a unique perspective, and the reason that you're a good fit for this position is because you have been in business in this area for so long. And so I feel like you have a good insight.

Absolutely.

As to what the business owners need and want.

Well, and when I have a business owner call and they're telling me that they're struggling, like, I can, I can feel that, like, in my soul, I can feel that. And sometimes it just takes an outsider to be able to look at what they're doing and what's not working and just give them some ideas, you know. And because I think, like, a business owner and not just somebody that's worked behind a desk their whole life. And no offense to anybody that has, but it is a different thought process. There is a different motivation for continuing to move forward. There is a different outlook on opportunity and what the economy looks like. And, you know, all of that is different. And so helping businesses grow and scale is very near and dear to my heart. Because I love our community. I love helping people. And this position allows me to combine both of those.

Yeah.

And not only do I get to help our businesses, but people call us all the time and they're like, hey, I do not have the money to pay two contractors. So what is a business that I'm less likely to have a complaint with? Who is less likely to scam me out of my money? Yeah. And we have a list that we can give them. These are the people that we can personally vouch for that you're less likely to have a problem with.

Yeah.

And so it's, it's dual. It's helping the consumer find good, trustworthy businesses.

Yeah.

And I, my grandmother, she passed away a few weeks ago, but she was one of the most vulnerable too. She's so sweet and she didn't know somebody could just tell her all the things that she wanted to hear and she would just give them her card.

Yeah.

Trust is the foundation of every single great business and the Better Business Bureau exists to protect that. So the Better Business Bureau helps consumers find businesses they can trust, offers scam prevention resources, and supports local business owners through accreditation, networking, education, and visibility opportunities. Brittany Brown, she's the CEO. She's been serving the big country and she says strong communities are built by strong businesses. Whether you're trying to grow your business or make a smarter purchasing decision, The Better Business Bureau is in your corner. Visit bbb.org to learn more.

So those are the people we're protecting. So we get calls every day about that.

And now with like AI stuff, yes, it is like— it's tricked me before and I work with it every single day. And sometimes I'll look at something and like, is this real or is this AI? And so it's getting to a point where it's Yes, super cool.

Well, and even just the caller ID, we— I love when they call us. I'm like, you do realize you called the Better Business Bureau, right? And then they hang up immediately. Yeah, but we kept getting this phone number and it's Dyess Air Force Base. Well, it's Dyess Air Force Base, like we're gonna answer, and we do, and it's a scam artist. Yeah, and they're like, you do realize, you do realize who you called? And they're like, who? You called the Better Business Bureau, like we're tracking you. And they hang up.

We have your location.

Yes. So that's always the fun part.

But so what have been some of the craziest things that you maybe didn't expect to go through in this position so far?

Um, I really think the rebrand. So basically we're rebuilding an organization from the ground up, and I don't think I expected that because nationwide the Better Business Bureau is well respected and most people understand what it is. In our region, in our pocket, people don't. And so they don't know that we have an office here. Yeah, they don't know what we do. They don't know how we can help. They also don't understand, you know, the difference of being accredited versus, you know, paying to play. That's what a lot of people— well, you have to pay to play, and that's not how it works. And so I, especially on social media, when I see those, I'm like, hey, call the office and let's talk, you know? Genuinely, like, I want to be able to give you the opportunity to ask me any question and I want to be able to answer it because there's a lot of misinformation out there. There's a lot of un— misunderstanding. And so that's why, you know, we're here and we're doing podcasts and we're sponsoring and we're really getting a part of our community because we are a resource that businesses can use and that consumers can use.

Yeah. Okay, so say somebody's on the fence about joining the Better Business Bureau, um, because before I met you, I didn't know it was a thing around here. And so what are some of the kind of benefits of being a part of the Better Business Bureau?

So one of the biggest benefits is when the people are calling us and they're asking who is trustworthy, we have a list of trustworthy businesses. That's the first one, and that is not anything I have changed or done. That's just the basis of what the Better Business Bureau is anyways. Yeah, we have standards of trust that our businesses— it's criteria that they have to check off and meet. And we do actually look at the businesses, we do verify. And so when we're giving these names to our consumers, they're actually businesses that we have verified, you know, you are less likely to have a complaint with this. The other thing that we offer is complaint resolution. So everybody gets a little stressed when we talk about complaints because nobody wants to deal with complaint resolution because it's terrifying. As a business owner, I've dealt with that myself. Like, what do you mean somebody's complaining? Like, that is terrifying. What did I do? You take it very personal because your business is your baby. Absolutely understandable. The, the thing that most people aren't understanding is the complaining is not the problem because, A, you cannot please everybody. Like, you just can't. You cannot make everybody happy. Somebody's going to be upset. B, businesses have bad days too. And businesses make mistakes.

Because businesses are people.

Exactly. Does that make them a bad business? Absolutely not. Does that make them a not reputable business? Absolutely not. So where we're seeing the main factor is, is how are businesses responding to the complaints? That tells more about the business than the actual complaint. Is the business talking to the consumer? Are they resolving it? Are they, being in good communication, or are they ignoring it, stonewalling, disregarding them? And honestly, that's where the rating system comes into play that people don't understand. I don't know if you saw the Buc-ee's incident, and I don't even know if I can talk about this.

Sure, go for it. If it gets taken down, it's fine. I don't care.

Well, Buc-ee's had a poor rating with the Better Business Bureau. Okay. And It went viral.

Are they accredited?

No.

Okay, so they just have a bad rating.

Yes. And, and that's the other myth is, well, I'm not accredited, so you can't— no, no, no. We deal with businesses that are accredited and not accredited with complaints every day, all day. It doesn't matter. We're mediators. That's what we do. So whether your business is accredited or not, we can still reach out to you and talk to you about this complaint. And how you respond is going to deem your rating. So Buc-ee's had an F rating. People lost their mind. They're like, we love Buc-ee's. Well, understandable. The problem is, is Buc-ee's was stonewalling their complaints. Instead of answering complaints or trying to figure out what is going on, they would just completely block them, black them out, wouldn't— they would not respond. Therefore, their rating went down. It had nothing to do with anything else. And so that's what I am trying to educate our businesses on. If you get a complaint, just talk to us. Like, we are human. We understand. Not every consumer is justified in their complaints. Like, we are not asking you to give this consumer whatever they ask. We're just asking for communication. Give us your side of the story. What happened? What's going on? Tell me what took place. And then we will record all of that information. We'll send it to the consumer and we'll move forward. And then you're left unscathed. Yeah.

So I didn't know that happened to Buc-ee's.

It was wild. It was a whole viral thing.

So what happened now? Have they responded or anything? Still not?

No. Um, and as a matter of fact, there was a big like press release about it. And so the national BBB sent emails to everybody and they're like, if people message you about Buc-ee's, send it to us. And so it was one of those things. We don't have a Buc-ee's in our service area. So didn't have anything to do with us. Yeah. Um, so we didn't have to worry about that.

I wonder if they, they don't even really care.

Oh, I'm sure. I mean, it's Puckys.

They're, they're making ridiculous amounts of money. So I'm like, I mean, if I was the owner and a few people had complaints, I don't know.

Well, I think it was thousands.

Oh, thousands of people? What was it about?

I did not investigate that much. I was like, thank the Lord that's not my service area.

Weren't you an investigator at one point?

Yes.

Okay, let's talk about that for a second.

Yes.

What are some crazy things that you investigated?

So the— technically it was, uh, group homes, state schools, or they're, they're called state supported living centers now. Um, I would go into those and investigate abuse, neglect, exploitation. The— I loved that job. Um, but I also started at the state supported living center working for direct care for 6 months. I had a degree, but because I didn't have any experience, I had to start at the bottom so I could become a case manager and continue to move up. And honestly, I think that in that line of work, everybody should start as direct care because, um, you learn a lot about what that job actually entails and the amount of work that these people do and the lack of appreciation that they get for the caretakers, for the caretakers, because taking care of somebody with disabilities, whether they're intellectual or physical, it is an exhausting, hard job. And it honestly, it takes a special person to do that because you can get really frustrated with people, you can lose your temper. There's all these different things. And so I was super blessed that even though I was not happy to begin with that I had to start in direct care, I met some of my best friends to this day in that position. And it allowed me to have a better understanding because I became a case manager. Well, when we're creating active treatment or we're creating goals for these individuals, I know the reality of the schedule. I know how the timeline works and what is actually helpful and what's just on paper that looks good for the state. And so I was able to use that to my benefit and then moving up to the investigator. I loved that job because when I would show up, staff would be terrified because they're like, oh my gosh, you know, the state's here. But because I didn't look at it as us against y'all, it was one of those things like, let's just figure out what happened, you know. And it became less controversial, it became less terrifying, and honestly, I was able to help people in a lot larger scope because they felt comfortable talking to me. They weren't thinking that I was out to get them. And I actually, in that position, was able to help the clients instead of just being the case manager, making a bunch of rules and, yeah, you know, scheduling for them. If there was an actual problem, I could shut the whole facility down until it fixed— it got fixed. Yeah. So I loved that job because I actually was helping, but it did help me develop all kinds of skills, you know, talking with people, you know, gleaning information, following the little rabbit trails. It was very intricate investigating. Wow. I try not to use my powers for evil, but sometimes—

that's so funny. I always have people come here in the studio who'll do podcasts, and they're like doctors or like whatever, big time, like really out there changing lives, saving lives. And it's so funny because they'll like ask me what I do and I'm like, well, basically I make YouTube videos and Instagram reels for a living.

But do you know how many people can't even, even fathom how to do that?

And I'm a professional yapper.

Yes, you are, Daron.

I made it.

My husband says And I was telling you this earlier, like, Daron just makes me want to tell my whole life story. You just have that personality about you and it's awesome. I mean, it's a gift from God.

Yeah. So, well, if you go back and look at my first videos, that— yeah, they're awful.

Well, and you know, dealing with businesses every day, social media is such a huge component right now in visibility that people want to do it themselves, but it doesn't look like how they want to look. Like that, how they want it to look. And so you have to kind of talk with them like, okay, what are we investing in?

You know, like, yeah, I, I see like a service like ours just like anything else. Like, if you don't know how to— if you're not a mechanic and you don't know how to fix your car, that's such a good— you're gonna waste more time and money trying to figure out how to do it on your own, and then you're probably gonna end up messing it up anyways and you have to take it back to a mechanic to undo everything that you messed up. And you're going to end up spending more time and money trying to figure it out.

That's an excellent analogy. That's exactly right.

That goes with anything, like barbers, photos, photographers, landscapers. Like, and so that's in my mindset. Like, at our house, like, we have a guy come and mow our lawn because— but I literally cannot breathe if I breathe in dust. For some reason, the Lord was like, hey, You're gonna be awesome. Yeah, you're gonna suffer anytime you mow the grass, like, for 24 hours. And so I was like, okay, I just had to hand that off. I'm like, I'm gonna rather pay somebody else, right? Same thing with like any projects around the house. Like, if we want to remodel a room or change something up, like, we'll pay a contractor to do it instead of trying to do it myself. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I bet. And so that's one thing that I've learned— plumbing. Yes, like, I'm not gonna try to fix plumbing because every time I tried in the past, I made it worse. I broke something, it ended up not working right, we ended up having to call a plumber anyways. And so literally the same exact thing in my opinion. And because social media and content is such— it is a must-have now.

Absolutely.

I think starting off on the right foot with somebody who's had experience in that area and works in it every day is going to give you way higher of an ROI on your time and money than trying to start from scratch and learn it yourself. It's possible to do that, just know it's going to take way longer and you're going to be spending a lot of time.

Yes, and when I first, uh, started as a CEO with the Better Business Bureau, I was trying to do all the things on my own, mainly for budget-wise, you know, I wasn't trying to overspend. I was trying to be very frugal in our spending, making sure that I allocated funds where we absolutely needed to. Um, but as we started implementing things and growing, it allowed me some freedom to delegate, and delegating social media is like first on that list. Yeah, so I—

which I think is a smart move personally, and I'm always trying to figure out how to delegate things that I do. I look at my calendar And I've been, I've been reading this book. It's called— and I'm not trying to make $1 billion, but this is a great book. It's like 9 Ways to Make $1 Billion, 9 Steps to Making Your First Billion Dollars. And it's just like super practical stuff about the business.

Yeah.

One of those things is a not-to-do list. Instead of having a to-do list, have a not-to-do list. So everything that you shouldn't be doing on a daily basis, keep that because Whenever I look at my list, editing, video editing was one of the first things that I have to delegate because it takes up 70, 80% of my time. Same thing goes with any other position. If you look at your schedule and you see this one thing takes up any above 50% of your time, then it would be wise to figure out a way to delegate it. And it may not always be easy, but it's wise.

Right. And, you know, We have such major growth happening in Abilene, whether we want what is happening to occur or not, it's happening. So we're either going to make it work for us or we're going to try to push it back and let it run us over.

Yeah.

And so a lot of our businesses that are struggling, the main thing comes down to visibility.

Yeah.

Who's seeing you? How are they seeing you? Where are they seeing you? There's a lot of businesses that, that do not have the best product and they're busy because they're visible.

Yeah.

And then we have other small local businesses that have an amazing product, an amazing service, but they're not busy. It's because nobody knows they're existing. People are going to, um, social media, they're going online and looking, especially people that are coming into Abilene. They don't know, they're not a part of the club, they don't know who's who. So they're just looking online to see where and what and when and how. And if you're not visible, you're just getting overlooked completely.

Yeah.

If you have 3 businesses in the same industry, same town, they do the same thing, they even might have the same quality of service. The person, let's say 2 of them don't do anything online. They have a mid website, they don't post anything ever, but the one in the middle posts every day, and that's really it. That's the only difference. But that person in the middle, that business who posts every day, gets all the business because they're the only ones that people see.

Yes. And there's a statistic that I heard, it's people forget about you after 7 days.

Yep.

So if they're not consistently seeing you, they forget that you are even a photographer or a videographer or a realtor. And so it's just, it's important. Abilene is in a different pocket where we are about 10 years behind in most things, but now that we have such quick growth with such varying types of people, it is changing. Word of mouth is a thing, and it is valuable, and it is important. But right now, the businesses that are killing it are word of mouth. They're hitting all the points.

Word of mouth, social media, multiple avenues.

Yes, exactly.

Inbound leads, which I'm a big fan of. Um, so what are some of your plans for the future of the Better Business Bureau?

So the forefront is educating, letting people know what we do, who we are, how we can help.

So what that's going to look like is a podcast out to today's sponsor, Gray's Craze Abilene. If you haven't seen one of their charcuterie boards in person, you're missing out. Madeline and her team build these gorgeous handcrafted boards and boxes for everything— client gifts, corporate events, birthdays, you name it. They're in the Chimney Plaza off South 27th with free local delivery on top of pickup. Order online now at grayscraze.com/abilene. Avalon-Texas. Here's the best part: mention this podcast when you order and get 10% off your next one. So go check out Grace Crates and let's get back to the episode.

Uh, let's go. We're looking to debut in October, so that'll give us some time to get things set up, get our sponsors set up, uh, get our businesses lined out for who we want to bring on. We are going to make it strictly available for accredited businesses, so that gives them a little bit of an advantage visibility-wise. We have 712, and so we want to provide the opportunity to them. Um, so that's one of the forefronts. We're also looking for workshops, things. Now, business owners, you— our schedule is crazy, so, you know, sometimes an in-person workshop is going to work out, other times something online is going to be better. We are working out those details, but we want to provide opportunities for businesses to actually get information. Social media is one of them, uh, advertising, finances. I mean, literally anything that is directly related to helping a business grow and learn, we want to teach them and provide education and tools that they can take back with them and, you know, grow and scale their business. Yeah, those are the, the top two things. We are, we are also looking at networking, uh, meet and greets, things that we can create to kind of build a little trusted set of people that we can kind of just refer back and forth and send clients over here and send clients over there and just really help each other network.

Yeah, I think those are great things that are very much needed in this area.

Yes. Well, you know, I had to tell myself like I can't, I can't change the entire organization in one day. And so I really, with my ADHD type brain of wanting to do everything and all the things and just run wild and free with it, really had to hone in on, let's start with 3 things and let's get them good and let's do them well and let's get them moving and active, and then we'll add in 3 more. And so it is a progress. Yeah, it is a, um a work in progress, but I really had to hone myself in because I have all the ideas, I have all the ambitions, and I have the tenacity to do it all. It's just my body is kind of limited because it, it wants to go to sleep, or, you know, it wants to chill out for a minute. So, you know, and that, that's the other part of learning how to delegate, pulling people in. Yeah, I learned that at our annual event that we had.

This last year?

Yes.

In June?

Yes. It was the biggest, uh, event that the Better Business Bureau has ever seen. We had over 300 people there. I, um, did not want to just make people do things, and so I was like, it's fine, I'll handle it. Well, I did not get to sit down or eat.

Yep.

So learning to let go of the reins a little bit, having committees delegating tasks, making sure that this is going to get done and I trust this person. Next year we will make sure we have that because our goal is now instead of 300, it's 500 attendees.

So why not 1,000? Why not 5,000?

Oh, Daron.

Why not book at the convention center?

Well, we are in talks. So.

You could do it big. You could bring in Joe Rogan.

Well, it's such a fun event. I mean, Joe Rogan would love the event.

We could have him do stand-up comedy.

He'd love it. He would love it. Him and Caleb Sutton. I could just see him. Oh gosh, it would be great. Caleb Sutton was our live band, which, you know, you were there, and, um, people danced and they just had a great time.

Yeah.

So we're gonna— it's gonna be Boots in Business. And we're gonna make it big.

So y'all haven't locked in a venue yet, right?

Not yet. We just had our discussion yesterday.

Okay.

Um, we do have a couple of places that we're gonna reach out to, um, just because we have capped the space. I mean, we, we were, we had too many, you know, so we're definitely gonna have to go somewhere bigger. Um, But we're really excited about it. And the purpose of that event is so that we can have funds. We're nonprofit. And so we use that money to reinvest back into our businesses. And that can look like a million different things. Workshops, networking, um, sponsorships. We can sponsor things. Um, and really just get as involved in our community as we can.

Yeah, that's awesome. So what would you say your biggest piece of advice would be to somebody who is new starting out a business?

There's so many different avenues you can take with that. I think the biggest piece of advice would be get visible. Um, a lot of people want to go slow and they want to learn all the things first and be perfect at it before they ever begin. I don't recommend doing that. I recommend jumping in full, all both feet, jump in and you can work out things as you go. Yeah. Um, get visible, get you a Facebook, get you some branding, but, but jump in and start. It doesn't do you, sir. Uh, what am I trying to say?

It doesn't, it doesn't do a lot of good.

It doesn't do a lot of good to overanalyze. You'll end up talking yourself out is what will happen if you overanalyze. You know, I have this really good idea. You know, what do you think? Sometimes people are going to be like, oh, I don't like that, because, you know, they're too scared to do it themselves. They'll talk you out of it. So if you're just like, you know what, I have a good idea. For me personally, when I started, I had a passion for it. I had a good idea. I believe in God, and I knew he would direct my path. And I jumped in. And within 6 months, it was just— yeah, I mean, I was supporting my family. Yeah, in 6 months.

And if you really want to be a psychopath, if you post 2 videos every single day for 30 days, your clientele, your life will look very different by the end of 30 days.

And even as limited of knowledge I had with social media back then, I knew what you post, people will book. And that was just something I, I learned from doing. Yeah, I had no clue what I was doing, but if I wanted to book more family sessions, I posted more family sessions. If I wanted to book more weddings, I posted more weddings. And it just— whatever I was spending my energy on, whether it be learning or posting, the passion would increase, the visibility would increase. And so my, my biggest advice would be just jump in, do it. You can figure it out. You learn how to swim as you go.

Yeah. And, and at the beginning you're not going to be that busy with client work, whatever it is that you're doing. So you have more time to work on this stuff. Yeah, like if I didn't have any jobs coming in, I could be posting 4 times a day right now. Am I going to do that? No, because then it would make my clients very upset that I'm not doing their work right instead of, um, posting on our own. But anyways, yeah, uh, do you listen to podcasts or books very much?

Um, I used to have time to do that. Now I do not.

Has— have you ever in the past?

Yes. So I listen to a lot of preachers throughout the day.

Yeah.

Um, especially when I was editing, I would put on a podcast or, uh, my favorite preacher, and I would listen.

I'm jealous of that, by the way.

Really?

Because you can't do that with video editing.

Oh, true.

Because anytime you try to listen to music, anytime you listen, anytime you try to listen to a podcast, anything, you can't hear that and the video that you're editing at the same time.

That makes sense.

And so I have to edit in silence.

That would drive me crazy.

And so every now and then, if we'll have like photos, like a photo gig or something, I'll be like, this is amazing. Like, I can just edit.

And I did learn like TV. I can have TV on, but it has to be something I've already seen. Yeah, it can't be something that I like get distracted with. And so Frasier is my go-to. It's my favorite show. I will put Frasier on in the background. I know every episode by heart, so I can just, you know, edit, type, and laugh away in the background and know what's happening. And I don't have to actually like be turned to it looking at it.

So that's a, that's a fun— I like that you said that because there was— I remember I was going through a period where I would just watch The Office over and over and over. And it's crazy because psychologists talk about how that is a form of like going against any anxieties that you have. Like, if you have anxiety throughout the day, like, it's your comfort because you already know what's gonna happen. So much sense. It's so comforting to know what's gonna happen because like if you're sitting on the edge of your seat the whole time every day, it could be exhausting.

Yes.

But, but if you can also do that in your content, it's great content and people want to know what's happening next.

Yes.

Make it their heart beating a little bit faster. But, um, cool. So thanks for coming on the podcast today.

You're welcome. It was, it was a great time.

Where can people find you and connect with you guys?

So They can go to our Facebook page. It's Abilene Better Business Bureau. That's our local, we're office in Abilene, but we do cover the 13 counties. So Abilene Better Business Bureau Facebook. We do not have an Instagram yet. We are working on that, Daron. Don't give me that look. We're working on that. We also have a website, bbb.org. If you've heard my radio commercial, I've said that a couple of times.

So are you gonna have to update that now that your name has changed?

You know, I didn't think about that.

Maybe, because, you know, and I'm gonna have to update the ad.

You are? And people are like, Brittany Cassidy, who's that?

Yeah, well, now they know.

It's my first public introduction as Brittany Cassidy.

Let's go. Cool. Yeah, they'll be also linked in the description below if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify. If you're on Facebook, I always tag them in it because they are one of our top sponsors. And so thanks for supporting the show. Thanks for supporting our business and all of the businesses in the big country. Make sure to go follow them, check them out. We'll see you in the next one. Peace.